Startups

The Office of Technology Commercialization at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, led by Matt McFarland, RPh, PhD, facilitates the transfer of new technologies, research and innovations to outside partners to benefit pediatric care, the local community and the general public.

Celenex is a clinical stage gene therapy company targeting several variants of Batten Disease and other genetic diseases.

Thrive Neuromedical, an Ohio-based spinout of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, is developing the DinoEggTM platform to enrich the neurological development of babies who don’t have regular, consistent access to their parent’s voice. The DinoEggTM is a unibody Bluetooth-enabled speaker which transmits the parent’s recorded voice with the appropriate sound characteristics to provide a clinical, therapeutic effect.

Deep Lens, formed in 2018 in Columbus, Ohio, is extending one of the world’s first digital pathology cloud platforms that for over ten years has allowed pathology groups to collaborate on groundbreaking cancer research across dozens of cancer types. Based on feedback from hundreds of expert global users, Deep Lens is enhancing that system to include AI-powered image detection and workflow support, telepathology, collaboration, cloud storage and built in APIs for integration by hardware and software vendors and biopharma companies.

Little Seed, LLC, was formed in 2018 in Powell, OH with the goal of delivering clinically driven, evidence-based fun to pediatric patients. The foundational technology, Voxel Bay, was developed by a team of clinicians and game designers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Voxel Bay provides an interactive virtual reality platform designed to distract and calm children undergoing uncomfortable medical procedures. The Voxel Bay VR platform is being expanded to include other virtual environments and games tailored to specific needs within the pediatric environment.

LYST Therapeutics, based in Columbus, OH, was founded in 2017 to develop a platform technology for treatment of fibrotic diseases. The technology, invented by researchers in the Center for Tissue Engineering at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, is a novel immunomodulatory therapeutic antibody, and has potential applications in treating stenosis, myocardial infarction, and other conditions involving fibrosis. For their first therapeutic indication, LYST Therapeutics is applying their technology to the prevention of stenosis in tissue engineered vascular grafts.

Scioto Biosciences was founded in 2017 to develop treatments for diseases associated with microbial dysimbiosis. The technology platform, developed by researchers and clinicians at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, is a novel formulation that primes the colony-forming mechanisms of probiotic bacteria by combining beneficial bacteria with polysaccharide microspheres. These natural mechanisms induce ‘biofilm’ formation, enhance probiotic function, and allow for non-spore forming bacteria to survive passage through the gastrointestinal system. Among the first therapeutic indications being pursued is necrotizing enterocolitis, a high-morbidity disease that affects 7% of premature births.

Myonexus Therapeutics, a new start-up formed in 2017, is a clinical stage gene therapy company developing first ever treatments for Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) types 2D, 2B, 2E, 2L, and 2C based on research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, a leader in muscular dystrophy gene therapy discovery and translational research.

GenomeNext, LLC, formed in 2014, is a leader in genomic data management and integrated analysis platform. The current strategies for analysis of this data rely upon parallelization approaches that have limited scalability, lack reproducibility and are complex to implement, requiring specialized IT solutions. In order to overcome these challenges, inventors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have developed a unique platform that fully automates the analytical process and provides genomic data and analysis ready for further clinical evaluation.

ENTvantage Dx is an in-vitro diagnostics company that provides primary care physicians and otolaryngologists with rapid, in-office diagnostic tests to determine the cause of ear, nose and throat illnesses. The technology was developed as a result of the research collaboration between The Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, for rapid diagnosis of bacterial sinusitis. ENTvantage Dx is currently developing this technology to be used as point-of-care for patients with symptoms of sinusitis.

Abeona Therapeutics, formed in early 2013 based on technology developed at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, is focused on developing a cure for Sanfilippo Syndrome, MPS IIIA and MPS IIIB, rare genetic disorders caused by the body’s inability to properly break down certain sugars. The disease leads to progressive muscular and cognitive decline in children after the age of 2. With no cure or approved treatments, children with Sanfilippo Syndrome usually die before the age of 20. The company is using technology invented by Nationwide Children’s Hospital researchers to deliver a corrective gene to the central nervous system in children with the disorder. A Phase I clinical trial for MPS IIIA is underway at Nationwide Children’s to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the treatment.

AveXis, a clinical stage gene therapy company, is developing a new gene therapy treatment for patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a motor neuron disease that affects one in 6,000 live births in the U.S. and is the leading genetic killer of children under the age of 2. The technology, invented by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital allows for the delivery of a replacement gene to target motor neurons throughout the brain and spinal cord. The Dallas-based company recently received “Fast Track” designation from the Food and Drug Administration and completed enrollment of Phase I for SMA type I patients.

The company was founded in 2012 to develop a therapy that would increase muscle strength and improve the quality of life of muscular dystrophy patients and is based on a discovery by scientists at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The therapy uses an adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivered follistatin protein, which inhibits the activity of myostatin, a protein that impedes muscle differentiation and growth. A clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of Milo’s follistatin therapy in patients with Becker muscular dystrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and Inclusion Body Myositis is underway at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.